


folklore

by pinchess07



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Fuckbuddies To Lovers, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, No actual smut cuz idk how to write that, Non-Linear Narrative, Ok i somehow managed to write a make-out session, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Rivals to Lovers, but it happens in-between scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:13:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25486030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinchess07/pseuds/pinchess07
Summary: Raihan and Leon, written to the beat of Taylor Swift's folklore album.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	1. epiphany

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'ed and written on only 4hrs of sleep.

Raihan watches Leon breathe in, feels his chest expand as his lungs take in air slowly, watches Leon breathe out, feels his chest deflating under Raihan's arm, feels the moment stretch like taffy.

Leon breathes in a slow and steady cycle as he sleeps, limbs tangled with Raihan's. There are dark smudges under the former champ's eyes, proof of the turbulent and stressful days in the aftermath of Rose's actions, but he's more relaxed than he's ever been when under public eye, something Raihan will gladly take credit for. His royal purple hair is strewn across the pillow and the bed in disarray and tangles, far from the majestic mane it is during the day, when he needed to be seen as a composed, strong man in the face of adversity, lest the media sharks tear him to bloody pieces. 

Raihan feels the urge to go through Leon's hair, and so he does, carefully carding his fingers through the long locks. He's never dared before, sure as he was about their relationship's boundaries. He knows fuckbuddies didn't do mushy romantic stuff, but he couldn't help himself. 

He couldn't help but want. 

Leon already gives 100% of himself to everyone else, part and parcel of being THE Galar celebrity. Raihan knows that the moments Leon spent with him were far and few between, and that Leon couldn't afford to give more than he had already. Leon has already sacrificed his bonds with his family in the name of being champion. He had non-existent free time. By spending a few hours a night with Raihan, Leon's sacrificing time that he could spend with family, time he could spend being himself, just existing, redefining who he is now that he's no longer the champion, and Raihan couldn't ask for more. 

Raihan shouldn't ask for more. He knows he's currently Leon's one and only, the only person who has ever touched him. But he's greedy.

He'd fallen in love with Leon despite knowing that he shouldn't, that Leon only wanted physical release. Raihan's already blessed with the knowledge of how Leon is during sex, a side that Leon has never shown to anyone else, memories that he'll fight tooth and nail to remember forever. 

But he wants more. He wants, and he wants, and he wants, no matter how much he tries not to.

He wants to know all of Leon, who he is at the basic level, when he's not fighting Raihan across the stadium, when he's not playing monkey to the tunes of the media, when he's not worried and tense about the eyes of all the citizens of Galar that are always trained on him. He wants to know Leon the human, wants to know his favorite food, how he takes his coffee or tea, how he goes about his chores, all the little quirks he had, how he smiles and laughs and cries, unfettered, unbound by crushing expectations that he'd carried for more than half his life.

Now is not the time. Galar is in chaos, in flux, and Leon is much the same. He doesn't need to endure Raihan's obsession, doesn't need to be smothered by Raihan's feelings. 

But... Leon had sought Raihan out, had looked at him like a lighthouse in a storm, had swallowed his moans like a man desperate for air. This time, this night... Leon had been undeniably more emotional than he'd ever been in their previous entanglements. And after, oh, after... He'd thanked Raihan, eyes warm and open and fond, before he dropped off to sleep.

Raihan had been hit with an epiphany with the force of a rhyhorn. That single look had stoked the ember of hope in his chest into a roaring fire. Maybe... Just maybe...


	2. exile

Those blue eyes add insult to injury, Leon thinks. There were plenty of people willing to meet the champion's gaze, but none more fierce than Raihan whenever they battled it out. It's intoxicating, being Raihan's center of attention. The adrenaline rush from each of their battles are unparalleled. Raihan's eyes on him has the same effect as a sucker punch. 

Leon feels like he's walking a very thin line as he approaches Raihan one late evening, hours after their match that night, away from any prying eyes. He could imagine the headlines already, if his actions tonight ever leaks out. It would be a scandal, and both of them will surely get in trouble with the League. Despite that, Leon steps forward, as if magnetized, decreasing the distance between them.

Raihan straightens up when he senses Leon's eyes on him. He's tall, taller than Leon, and sometimes he hunches over, aware of how some people got uncomfortable with his looming presence, but he isn't bothering with doing that now. Arceus, Raihan is so handsome, on camera and off it, charm oozing out of him in spades, and Leon is just one man. 

He can barely remember lifting his feet or moving forward. He blinks, and Raihan is there, so close, close enough to touch, his lips close enough to kiss—

In the aftermath, Leon is wrecked, beyond incoherent. Arceus is merciful and has blessed him with a holy experience. Dimly, he registers Raihan's voice, though he can't make out the words. His brain is still fried. Should he be insulted that Raihan hadn't been struck speechless as Leon was?

Then again, maybe Leon just wasn't that good a kisser. He doesn't have any experience with that, after all. There's a sudden, teasing bite on the juncture of his neck and shoulder, and he chokes back a startled moan. 

"Oh? You like that, huh?" Raihan smirks.

Leon opens his mouth unthinkingly, but whatever he'd been about to say is lost when Raihan takes the opportunity to suck on Leon's pulse point. Leon's hands find a way into Raihan's hair, clutching for support since his legs have turned to jelly. 

In the back of Leon's mind, the voice of reason cautions him against continuing further, wary the idea of just going at it with anyone, especially Raihan, like this, in the dark as if they're doing something wrong and shameful. The voice of reason has always been romantic, and it points out that Leon has seen a movie like this before, and he didn't like the ending. 

Unlike kissing, Leon's had more than enough practice at ignoring the voice of reason in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like pining but not sad endings folks. So while this is inspired by exile, i only picked a few lines from the song, and that's likely gonna happen with other songs as well.


	3. hoax

The devastation hits him hours later, a quiet realization that he's no longer the champion. Oh, he'd smiled for the cameras, said the words, done the rounds with the new champ, been genuinely proud of seeing his brother's rival exceed all of Galar's expectations.

But it's nearly 2 AM, and the hurt descends upon him, swift and unavoidable.

His hat lies on the floor. He hadn't realized he'd even dropped it. His cape is still on his shoulders, a weight he'd long gotten used to ignoring.

He... can't wear either of them anymore. It would be the height of foolishness to wear a hat with the silhouette of a crown and a royal cape when his metaphorical kingdom's come undone.

Hot tears overflow from his eyes, down his cheeks and chin as he quietly breaks down. He clutches the cape, hunching into it and treating it more like a blanket as if to ward off the cold night.

Too bad it doesn't work. He's trembling, chilled from the inside out—

He'd done all he could.

 _But it obviously wasn't enough_ , a voice in his head whispers, _otherwise you would've won_.

Leon grits his teeth.

He's lost before, when he was just starting out, though the media has conveniently not focused on who he was before he became the champion. Everyone has experienced loss at some point in their life. He can bounce back from this.

 _But what's the point? Give me a reason_ , the traitorous voice in his head insists. _So what if you bounce back? So what if you win again? Your record's forever stained. You're not undefeated anymore. More importantly, do you really want to keep living in the same stressful hellscape you've endured for the past decade?_

He remembers saying something along the lines of ' _when you lose, you feel down in the dumps, but there's nowhere left to go but back up_ ' when Hop had been dealing with his recent losses, but... Does that advice really apply to himself?

He already knows what it's like to be the number one.

There's this huge aching gap in his heart, where Rose used to be, ~~the only father-figure he's ever had~~ , and he doesn't know when he'll be strong enough to face it, or whether he'll ever face it at all. It's not important. It's not. It doesn't matter if he can't ask Rose for guidance on what he should do. Rose is unavailable for the foreseeable future.

So he refocuses on the immediate present, shaking his head a bit to help clear his mind. He wipes his cheeks with the back of his hand, as if he could wipe away his emotions together with his tears. Slaps his cheeks twice, softly, just like his small pre-battle ritual.

Aiming for the champion title again leaves a terrible taste in the back of his throat. Hindsight is 20/20 after all. He may enjoy winning, but that's not all the champion is required to do. The last decade of his life had been spent under the scrutiny of the media. Sure, most of it was good publicity, and he generally tolerated them, but who is he kidding? He can at least admit the truth to himself: some days he hated being in the limelight so much that he purposefully got lost on the way to his endless daily appointments. His sense of direction is shit, but he's been going everywhere in Galar for the past ten years. He's not as bad with directions as everyone thinks. He's never gotten lost on the way to a match, and he never will.

Fighting battles... That's the best part of being a champion. He's been known to wax poetic about his previous or upcoming matches. Those types of interviews are always the most tolerable ones. He loves fighting. He genuinely loves having competition—

 _Eyes, a shade of blue that he'll never forget_ —

Ah. There we go. Determination floods him. A dying ember, rekindled back to life. A reason to keep battling.

Leon breathes in. He still wants to keep fighting Raihan. Wants to keep their rivalry alive, wants to keep their unspoken arrangement—

No. It's time to stop lying to himself. He's not the champion anymore. He's free of obligations, free to be himself. Free to be selfish. Free to want.

Oh, how he wants Raihan. Wants more than the casual once-in-a-blue-moon arrangement they currently have. He's wanted a proper relationship with Raihan for longer than he's willing to admit.

And suddenly, it feels like a crime, not being by Raihan's side right at that moment. Hop and his mum surely wouldn't appreciate being woken up in the dead of night. He could go see Raihan, couldn't he?

**Author's Note:**

> Me, writing fanfics while listening to Taylor Swift's songs? More likely than you think. Please join my puddle of tears in the comment section. Please. I just have so many feelings.


End file.
